Republicans are attacking Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) who is running for the U.S. Senate with a fake artificial intelligence (AI)-generated video of her giving a boy a no-parent-permission-required estrogen kit.Mills has been a strong supporter of transgender rights this past year, refusing to bow to pressure from the president to ban trans kids from participating in school sports. Related AI videos showed influencer Jake Paul coming out as gay. His reaction has been surprising. But instead of just criticizing her for her actual record of support for trans people, Republicans have decided to use deepfake videos.The ad from the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) takes the tone of a 90s infomercial selling The Janet Mills Collection. The robotic voiceover misrepresents her policy positions while AI-generated videos show the consequences of those policies. Generative AI technology was likely used because these are not the actual results of Mills policies, so no real video was available for use. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today The first tableau shows a cisgender boy running on a track with several cisgender girls behind him and Mills acting as the timer. Mills forces girls to compete against biological males, the voiceover says. The reason theres no actual video of this situation is that Mills never supported letting boys compete in girls sports, but instead supported letting one type of girl (transgender girls) compete with other girls.In the next scene, a boy in a polo shirt who looks about 8- or 9-years-old is standing in a womens clothing store as Mills hands him a box with old-timey syringes. Mills comes with a no-parent-permission-required estrogen kit, the voiceover says. Hormone therapy is not part of the standard of care for trans kids that age, and kids that age cant get much medical care without parental permission. But saying that Democrats want very young children to get age-inappropriate gender-affirming care has been a key strategy that the right has used to gin up moral panic against trans kids.The voice-over then says that Mills keeps parents in the dark while their minors take prescription hormones as the video shows an even younger boy injecting himself with a syringe. The last scene shows Mills drinking champagne in a fur coat at a hospital waiting room while the voiceover accuses her family of profiting from the gender-affirming care. Its not clear what the ad is referring to, but the idea that doctors profit from turning kids transgender is an established rightwing conspiracy theory meant to discredit medical research showing that gender-affirming care is safe and life-saving for trans youth. The ad includes no quotes from Mills or any legislation she signed, which are typical features of political attack ads, used to make the accusations seem more real. But AI-generated video appears to have taken that place in this ad as the realistic-looking videos provide proof that Mills is turning kids transgender behind their parents backs.The NRSCs webpage about the ad tries to provide some connections to reality, including linking to an article about Mills supporting trans girls competing in girls sports, an article about how older teens can get gender-affirming care in Maine without parental permission in some limited situations, and a link to another NRCS webpage that says that Mills sister works in the health care industry, likely their proof that Mills personally profits from gender-affirming care.Using fake video in political ads is not illegal in the U.S., and the president made it more difficult for states to regulate its use. Some platforms, like YouTube where the NRSC ad is posted require use of AI-generated video to be disclosed. There is nothing on YouTube that says the NRSC ad is a product of generative AI. Lies have been part of politics since time immemorial, said Public Citizen co-president Robert Weissman in an interview with The Guardian last month. This is different than lies, and its different than saying your opponent said something that they didnt say.When someone is shown an apparently authentic version of a person saying something, it is very hard for that person to then contradict it and say I never said that because youre asking people to disbelieve what they saw with their own eyes, Weissman added.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.